Lycanthrope PC Races

[yesnomu]

I'm sick of shifters being the "PC Lycanthropes", so I made my own! Wereboar, bear and tiger races will come along as soon as I come up with some cool powers.


Werewolf
Medium – Speed 6
+2 Str, +2 Wis
+2 Athletics, +2 Nature
Vision: Normal in human, otherwise low-light.
Languages: Common, choice of one other.

Shapeshift: Werewolf Racial Power
Muscles contort and bones scrape as you change your skin.
At-Will – Minor Action – Personal
Effect: You change your form to that of a human, wolf, or hybrid. In wolf form, you gain racial bonuses of +2 to speed and a +2 to Perception, but may only use attacks with the Beastform keyword, as well as other powers that do not require held items or speech. In human form, you may not use the Bite attack. In hybrid form, you gain a +2 to Perception.
Special: Items that you carry in human or hybrid form merge into your body in wolf form, but their properties continue to affect you. You may not activate item powers when the items are merged. This power counts as the druid's Wild Shape for effects that require it.

Bite: Werewolf Racial Power
Your jaws snap out and rend flesh.
At-Will - Beastform – Standard Action – Melee
Attack: Strength or Dexterity +3 vs. AC
Hit: 1d8+Strength or Dexterity damage.
Special: You may only use this attack in wolf or hybrid forms. If you carry a magic weapon or implement, you may add its enhancement bonus to this power’s attack and damage rolls. This power counts as a melee basic attack using both a light and heavy blade. Increase the damage dice to 2d8 at 21st level.

Trip: Werewolf Racial Power
You follow up a successful attack with a quick sweep of the leg, dropping your foe to the floor.
Encounter - Beastform – Free Action – Melee
Trigger: When you hit with an attack against an adjacent standing target.
Attack: Strength or Dexterity +2 vs. Fortitude
Hit: You knock the target prone. You may use Bite as a free action against the target if you are in hybrid or wolf form.
Special: Increase the attack bonus to +4 at 11th level, and +6 at 21st level. At 15th level, you may use this power twice per encounter.

[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
Wererat
Small – Speed 6
+2 Dex, +2 Cha
+2 Bluff, +2 Thievery
Vision: Normal in human, otherwise low-light.
Languages: Common, choice of one other.

Shapeshift: Wererat Racial Power
Muscles contort and bones scrape as you change your skin.
At-Will – Minor Action – Personal
Effect: You change your form to that of a human, dire rat, or hybrid. In dire rat form, you are tiny, and gain racial bonuses of +4 to AC and a +4 to Stealth, but may only use attacks with the Beastform keyword, as well as other powers that do not require held items or speech. In human form, you may not use the Bite attack. In hybrid form, you gain a +1 to Perception.
Special: Items that you carry in human or hybrid form merge into your body in dire rat form, but their properties continue to affect you. You may not activate item powers when the items are merged. This power counts as the druid's Wild Shape for effects that require it.

Bite: Wererat Racial Power
You latch onto your foe with filthy jaws.
At-Will - Beastform – Standard Action – Melee
Attack: Strength or Dexterity +3 vs. AC
Hit: 1d6+Strength or Dexterity damage + Constitution poison damage
Special: You may only use this attack in dire rat or hybrid forms. If you carry a magic weapon or implement, you may add its enhancement bonus to this power’s attack and damage rolls. This attack counts as a melee basic attack using a heavy or light blade. Increase the damage dice to 2d6 at 21st level.

Scurry: Wererat Racial Power
You take advantage of a momentary distraction to make your escape.
Encounter – Move Action – Personal
Effect: You shift into dire rat form if you are not in that form already, and shift 5 squares. You may change form as a free action at the end of your movement.

[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT] Wereserpent
+2 Str, +2 Cha
+2 Diplomacy, +2 Athletics
Vision: Normal in human, otherwise low-light.
Languages: Common, choice of one other.

Shapeshift: Wereserpent Racial Power
"A snake, am I? Perhaps you’d like to see how SNAKELIKE I can BE!"
At-Will – Minor Action – Personal
Effect: You change your form to that of a human, serpent or hybrid. In your hybrid and serpent forms, you may use the Bite, Constrict and Hypnotizing Stare racial powers. In hybrid form, you greatly resemble a Yuan-ti, and gain a +10 to Bluff checks to impersonate one. In serpent form, you may only use attack powers with the Beastform keyword, as well as other powers that do not require held items or speech.
Special: Items that you carry in human or hybrid form merge into your body in serpent form, but their properties continue to affect you. You may not activate item powers when the items are merged. This power counts as the druid's Wild Shape for effects that require it.

Bite – Wereserpent Racial Power
At-Will - Beastform – Melee – Standard Action
Attack: Strength or Dexterity +2 vs. AC
Hit: 1d10+Strength or Dexterity damage. In serpent form, add 1d6 poison damage.
Special: Only available in serpent or hybrid forms. You may attempt to grab a target you hit with this attack as a free action. This attack counts as a melee basic attack made with a light or heavy blade. If you carry a magic weapon or implement, you may add its enhancement bonus to this power’s attack and damage rolls. Increase the damage dice to 2d10 at level 21, and the extra poison damage to 2d6 at level 11 and 3d6 at level 21.

Constrict - Wereserpent Racial Power
"But snakes are either venomous or constricting, not both!" "Look, it's fantasy. Stop thinking so hard."
At-Will - Beastform – Melee – Minor Action
Target: A grabbed creature.
Attack: Str, Dex or Con +2 vs. Fort
Hit: 1d10+Str, Dex or Con
Special: Only usable in serpent or hybrid forms, once per round. Increase the damage dice to 2d10 at 21st level, and the bonus to +4 at 11th level, and to +6 at 21st level. In serpent form, you gain an additional +2 bonus to the attack.

Hypnotizing Stare - Wereserpent Racial Power
"Loooook into my eyes, hisssss...."
Encounter - Beastform – Ranged 5 – Minor Action
Target: One creature
Attack: Int, Wis or Cha +2 vs. Will
Hit: The target is dazed until the end of your next turn.
Special: Only usable in serpent or hybrid forms. Increase the bonus to +4 at 11th level, and +6 at 21st level. At 15th level, this attack stuns rather than dazes the target.

Heroic Feats

Moon's Love
Prerequisites: Lycanthrope race
Benefit: Once per day, you gain regeneration equal to 5+1/2 level while bloodied. The regeneration lasts until the end of the encounter. If you take damage from a silvered weapon, the regeneration ceases to function until the start of your next turn.

 

[chronoplasm]

Instead of races, why not make these into feats? That way, instead of having a separate lycanthrope race, any race can be lycanthropic.
You could play as a Half-Orc Wererat or an Elven werewolf...

A Warforged with a lycanthropy feat would be a transformer!

 

[Orcus Porkus]

Check out my werebear

You got some nice ideas.
Please check out my werebear writeup.

I created this race for a friend who wants to be one.

I gave it a lot of thought, and it's been through some feedback already.

I came up with the following basic ideas for a were PC race:

- regeneration and shapechanging is a power every werebeing is born with, so making them a feat is creating bad flavor
- like Dragonborn and other races, the were races should only have one racial power. This should be the regeneration
- although the shapechanging could be described as an at-will power, I don't look at is a power in a rules sense, because the shapechanging itself doesn't grant any advantages. The were being gains some extra features while in a different shape, but the shapechanging is not the big deal (although great flavor). So let's just say they can change whenever they want, how often they want, or limit it to twice per encounter or something, but not make it the were being's racial power
- The were being has three states. Natural, hybrid, or humanoid. In terms of balance, it's OK to give each state its own little advantage, since they don't add up. In other words, each state is its own race in terms of rules. My werebear, for instance, can wield the greataxe in hybrid state in one hand, can deal small damage while grabbing in bear state, and has no special features in humanoid state.
- Feats should improve existing racial features, rather than granting new ones out of the blue. My werebear for example can improve his claw attack, or bear hug damage, or the speed. This is just for balance. If you give him access to additional powers on top of the other awesomeness, you have a balance problem.

My biggest trouble right now is the equipment issue. Does it meld with the natural form or not? In terms of playability I decided yes it does, in terms of realism I think it sucks. I also think that the RAW in 3.5 didn't allow the melding, but I don't remember where I saw it.

What's also strange in 4.0 is that lycanthropy can't be contracted by a bite any longer. It's purely hereditary. I decided to go along with it, although I think flavorwise the bite thing is somewhat crucial. Whatever.

Please let me know what you think.

 

[yesnomu]

Instead of races, why not make these into feats? That way, instead of having a separate lycanthrope race, any race can be lycanthropic.
You could play as a Half-Orc Wererat or an Elven werewolf...

A Warforged with a lycanthropy feat would be a transformer!

That's not a bad idea, but two things:
1) According to the MM, lycs are now hereditary, so they already are a separate race.
2) Making them their own race lets me make them more powerful than you could make them with a feat. Feats are pretty weak in general, and you couldn't get much power out of it.

Now, a "were-touched" feat wouldn't be a bad idea. Something like:

Were-touched (Heroic)
Pre-requisite: You must have been injured in battle by a shapeshifter. Waivable by DM.
Benefit: You may shapeshift at-will into one animal form listed below. In this form, you may only use the Bite attack power, and any utility powers that do not require speech or a held item. You may take this feat multiple times, choosing a new animal each time.

Wolf: Gain a +2 racial bonus to speed and Perception. You may make a Strength vs. Fortitude attack as a free action once per encounter to knock an enemy prone, and may attack them with Bite as a free action if you hit.
Rat: etc etc etc

It's not really where I want to go with lycs, though.

 

[yesnomu]

You got some nice ideas.
Please check out my werebear writeup.

I created this race for a friend who wants to be one.

I gave it a lot of thought, and it's been through some feedback already.

I came up with the following basic ideas for a were PC race:

- regeneration and shapechanging is a power every werebeing is born with, so making them a feat is creating bad flavor
- like Dragonborn and other races, the were races should only have one racial power. This should be the regeneration
- although the shapechanging could be described as an at-will power, I don't look at is a power in a rules sense, because the shapechanging itself doesn't grant any advantages. The were being gains some extra features while in a different shape, but the shapechanging is not the big deal (although great flavor). So let's just say they can change whenever they want, how often they want, or limit it to twice per encounter or something, but not make it the were being's racial power
- The were being has three states. Natural, hybrid, or humanoid. In terms of balance, it's OK to give each state its own little advantage, since they don't add up. In other words, each state is its own race in terms of rules. My werebear, for instance, can wield the greataxe in hybrid state in one hand, can deal small damage while grabbing in bear state, and has no special features in humanoid state.
- Feats should improve existing racial features, rather than granting new ones out of the blue. My werebear for example can improve his claw attack, or bear hug damage, or the speed. This is just for balance. If you give him access to additional powers on top of the other awesomeness, you have a balance problem.

My biggest trouble right now is the equipment issue. Does it meld with the natural form or not? In terms of playability I decided yes it does, in terms of realism I think it sucks. I also think that the RAW in 3.5 didn't allow the melding, but I don't remember where I saw it.

What's also strange in 4.0 is that lycanthropy can't be contracted by a bite any longer. It's purely hereditary. I decided to go along with it, although I think flavorwise the bite thing is somewhat crucial. Whatever.

Please let me know what you think.

Your werebear is nice! Much better formatted than my weres, I kinda just splatted some powers out. And sweet art, too.

I decided on multiple powers because some races (like drow) have multiple. It'd be pretty easy to turn some of those powers into racial features anyway, so I think it's a "six of one, half dozen of the other" sort of thing.

I didn't want regeneration to be a shared power, because that lets me give each race individual powers that work differently. Your regen is not a bad way to go about it, though, and I might yoink it for the regen feat. Plenty of other racial feats give additional powers/uses for powers, like the gnoll's Butcher's Lure and the Dragonborn Thrown Breath, so I think it's a fine way to address it. The flavor would be, "I embrace the wild nature that is my heritage, and accept the moon's blessing!" or something like that.

I agree on the balancing of the three forms, for each to have advantages. Like not being slaughtered in towns (human) and a speed and senses boost (wolf). This leads to players choosing a form for each situation, which is something I want to encourage.

I'm adding a wereserpent I made today for a friend who asked, where the only benefit of the serpent form over hybrid is improved snake powers in combat. This is interesting to me, since if it works well a player would be shifting between forms in combat. I see that you did a similar thing for your werebear, which is cool!

How did your player like the race? Has it seemed balanced to you?

 

[Orcus Porkus]

How did your player like the race? Has it seemed balanced to you?

We haven't tested it yet. He travels a lot.
By saying yes to his wish I'm trying to get him more hooked into the game

Regarding all the powers: I just have to avoid a situation where the other players get a bad feeling when he is doing all kinds of fancy stuff they don't have access to with their boring regular cleric etc.

 

[yesnomu]

OK, added the Wereserpent and made changes. Standardized the power format to match the ones in the book, and altered a few things based on feedback from a friend.

Next up, possibly a werelizard. Maybe with poison spitting?

 

[afetbinttuzani]

Thanks for the great Ideas. In my 2E campaign I have allowed one of my PCs to be a were-raven, which I have dubbed a "corvanthrope". I will hopefully be joining a 4E FR campaign as a PC in April and I have asked the DM to consider allowing me to play a "corvanthrope". Any thoughts on racial powers? Flight, of course, is a significant power. 2E allowed for pecking damage with the possibility of blinding an apponant in one or more eyes.

The question of whether to have equipment morph with the were-creature (therianthrope) is a tough one. I lean towards leaving equipment behind. It would make a PC think twice before shapechanging. Particularly when changing back leaves you naked and defenseless.

 

[Garthanos]

Were-ravens sound quite fun... be damn 4e flying = power conundrums ... and yes naked and defenseless can be a built in cost for all the various goodies were-creatures seem to "need".

Historically most of the legends of people that changed into animals were sorcerers/druids/shamans doing intentional magic and animals that changed into people were touch by a goddess... curses are hollywood if I recall correctly.

For the magical class that take animal form it seems normative to incorporate their equipment.

I am picturing a witch raven character wielding a long sword and her buddy the battlerager who changes in to a black wolf.

 

[BartD]

Very interesting and nice to have this thread come up just as I am working on making shapeshifting into a bear possible.

Instead of races, why not make these into feats? That way, instead of having a separate lycanthrope race, any race can be lycanthropic.
You could play as a Half-Orc Wererat or an Elven werewolf...

This is the path I am taking, exactly to make it posible to be a shifter of any race. Actually I only really need something for a half-orc barbarian but I prefer the feat-based approach since it allows the character to *become* a shifter rather than having to be born as one. And if someone is born as one, he can just start with the entry feat at level and be done with it. Here's what I've got so far:

Bear Multiclass Feats

Champion of the Bear
As an at-will standard action, you take the form of a large brown bear or revert to your original form.
Equipment: All equipment, except items carried in your hands, is absorbed but still functional.
Wild Stamina: You gain a +2 bonus to athletics and endurance checks.
Claws: You are proficient with your claws which are equivalent to sickles (d6 damage and +2 proficiency bonus) and can be used for basic attacks and powers.
Bear Hug: When grabbing an opponent, you deal ongoing damage equal to half your strength modifier.

Bestial Claws
Your claws now inflict d8 points of damage and get a +3 proficiency bonus.

Ursine Axe Warrior
You can wield your preferred weapon, the mighty two-handed axe, in one hand while in bear form, with your other claw as an off-hand weapon. You can't wield any melee or ranged weapon in the off-hand but you can use it to attack and grab enemies, or hold items.

Ursine Crush (Paragon)
The damage dealt by your bear hug increases to your full strength modifier.

I have read Orcus Porkus' werebear race so it is not a coincidence is some of this looks familiar (thanks!) I'm not really sure how well it will work with a barbarian, though.
This is very much work in progress so any feedback is welcome!